kasih

Indonesian

Etymology

Inherited from Malay kasih, from Proto-Malayic *kasih, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *ka-qasiq (“mercy; pity; affection”), *qasiq (“pity, compassion, affection, love, sympathy, forgiveness”).

The sense of "to give" may be semantic extension from the action of loving into repaying or providing reciprocal affection.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈka.sɪh/
• Rhymes: -sɪh, -ɪh, -h
• Hyphenation: ka‧sih

Noun

kasih (uncountable, uncommon)

1. love, often referring to unconditional and compassionate love.

   Synonyms: sayang, cinta

   1. a deep caring for the existence of another
   2. a profound and caring affection towards someone

Verb

kasih (active mengasih, passive dikasih) (ditransitive, colloquial)

1. synonym of beri (“to give”)

Derived terms

Affixed terms

• berkasih
• berkasih-kasihan
• kasihan
• kasihi
• kekasih
• pekasih
• pengasih
• pengasihan
• terkasih

Compound terms

• kasih sayang

Further reading

• “kasih” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Maguindanao

Etymology

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *ka-qasiq (“mercy, pity, affection”).

Noun

kasih

1. love

Malay

Etymology

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *ka-qasiq (“mercy, pity, affection”).

First attested in the Kota Kapur inscription, 686 CE, as Old Malay [script needed] (kasīh), in inflected form kasīhan (current spelling kasihan). Sense of "giving" may be semantic extension from the action of loving into repaying or providing reciprocal affection.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kasih/
• Rhymes: -asih, -sih, -ih
• (Johor-Riau) IPA^(key): [kä.sɪh, -seh, -se̞h]
• Rhymes: -eh

Noun

kasih (Jawi spelling کاسيه, plural kasih-kasih, informal 1st possessive kasihku, 2nd possessive kasihmu, 3rd possessive kasihnya)

1. love, care, affection

   Synonym: sayang

Derived terms

Affixed terms and other derivations

Irregular affixed derivations, other derivations and compound words:

• terima kasih (“thank you”)
• kasih sayang (“affection, fondness”)

Verb

kasih

1. to love, to show affection for
2. (rare) to give

   Synonyms: kasi, beri, bagi

Derived terms

Affixed terms and other derivations

Regular affixed derivations:

• pengasih (“lover”) [agentive / qualitative / instrumental / abstract / measure] (peN-)
• kekasih (“lover”) [passive] (ke-)
• kasihan (“pity, sympathy”) [resultative / locative / collective / variety / verbal noun / fruit] (-an)
• mengasihani (“to pity”) [agent focus + repetition / reciprocity + causative (locative) benefactive] (meN- + -an + -i)
• mengasihi (“to love”) [agent focus + causative (locative) benefactive] (meN- + -i)
• berkasih-kasihan (“to be in love with each other”) [reduplication + stative / habitual + repetition / reciprocity] (redup + beR- + -an)

Irregular affixed derivations, other derivations and compound words:

• kasi
• terima kasih
• menjunjung kasih

References

• Pijnappel, Jan (1875) “کاسه kasih”, in Maleisch-Hollandsch woordenboek, John Enschede en Zonen, Frederik Muller, page 74
• Wilkinson, Richard James (1901) “کاسه kaseh”, in A Malay-English dictionary, Hong Kong: Kelly & Walsh limited, pages 494-5
• Wilkinson, Richard James (1932) “kaseh”, in A Malay-English dictionary (romanised), volume I, Mytilene, Greece: Salavopoulos & Kinderlis, page 514

Further reading

• “kasih” in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu | Malay Literary Reference Centre, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017.